Pattern control means for knitting machines



May 14, 1929. R. w. scoTT ET AL 1,713,353

PATTERN CONTROL MEANS FOR vKNITTING' MACHINES Original Filed Aug. 29, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheerl 1 jzvemars E@ erWaiZ, @amiga y HZeFZ-E. Page May 14, 1929. R. w. scoTT ET AL PATTERN CONTROL MEANS FOR KNITTING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Aug. 29, 1924 May 14, 1929. R. w. scoTT ET AL 1,713,353

PATTERN CONTROL MEANS FOR KNITTING MACHINES Original Filed Aug. 29, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Enki@ W'ca eeeaseez Patented May 14, 1929.

UNITED STATES f PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT w. scor'r, DEGEASED, LATE or RARYLDN,' NEw- YoRx, ma .cHAJiLrza4 R. BARNES, or HINGHAM, xAssAcnUsErrs, CHARLES J. mDERxo'r'r, or RRooirLnr,l NEW YoRx, AND HARRISON G. REYNOLDS, or Bos'roN, nAssAcnUsE'rrs, EoU'roRs, AND ALRER'r E PAGE, or RRooxLYN, lNEW YoRx; sAIn scorie AND SAID PAGE AssIeNoRs 'ro scorrAND WILLIAMS, INC., or NEW YoRx, N.' Y., A'

CORPORATION F MASSACHUSETTS.

PATTERN coNTRoL nEANs' roR xNIr'rING lluioinNas.A

Original application led August 29, 1924, Serial No. 784,888., Divided and this application led` lay 15,

\ 1925. Serial No. 30,570. Y

Our invention relates to knitting machines and more particularly to 'pattern 4control means therefor. The invention is particularly useful in the making of stripes in stockings containing plated fabric, but it has many other applications. One object of our invention is lto provide a machine which produces a long series of 'pattern changes progerly coordinated with the control of t e basic pattern movements; and another object of this invention is to provide improved mechanism which is capable of producing a large variety of patterns. The machine .lncludes a ratchet and pawl-operated pattern control means, independent idling means, and other idling mechanism therefor havlng angular motion. The invention w1ll be described in connection with the process and mechanism for producing plated horlzontal stripes in hosiery which forms the subject matter of the patent to said Robert W. Scott and Albert E. Page 1,666,794 dated April 17 1928 of which this is a division.

For purposes of illustration we have shown our invention embodied in a seamless hosiery machine of the well-known Scott & Williams t e.

ylfn the accompanying drawings- Fig. 1 is a side elevation in section through mg the yarn guides and the levers controlling them Fig. 2 is a side elevation on a smaller scale of the pattern drums controlling the yarn guides;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of our yarn tensionchanging means;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of our yarn ten-A sion-changing ,means showing part of the wave of the needles; y

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the throat plate showing the yarn guides-in one radial position* Fig. 6 is a similar plan view with the yarn guides in the reverse radialpositlon;

Fig. 7 is an elevation of the hook of a needle showinghow the yarns'are fed to the needles )art of the head of a knitting machine showwhen the Iyarn guides are in the positions shown in ig. 6;- :f 1

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 taken when the arn guides are in the.position shownin ig.5;andv

Fig. 9 is a detail elevation of the mechanism controlling the movement of the striping pattern drum.: e

As is well understood, in the plating the twol edles but this has never proved satisfac ry and the devices heretofore suggested are not adap ed-foruse in themodern circular km ting machine ,where the yarns pass throu haa throat which changes their direction j st before going under the needles...

e We have discovered that btension or drag on rst one p atm fyarn and then the other, under certain con ltlons each plating yarn can be knit in yfirst on one side of the fabric and then on the other. However, to make a mechanism which' will re verse the. platingl yarns under any conditions, wecombine wit the tension-alternating feature a reciprocation of the yarn ides radially to the needle circle. The oriz'ontal se a'ratio'nand the reversal ofthe yarns re-A su ting from this movement of the guides is translated by the throat late into peculiarly suitable positioning of t e yarns as will be set forth in detail later, the lwhole operation combining to give a very effective striping. Of course stripes of numerous colors can be obtained by feeding a lpluralit of yarns as backing yarns, and bringing a different yarn to the face with each reversal.

Referring now to` Fig. 1, of the drawings, the needles are indicated at N and the throat plate at 559, while the yarn feeding lingers over the throat plate are indicated at F.

putting some' These yarn fingersV F are pivoted on a crosspin 554 set in the upright portion of the latch ring 550, the latter beingpivoted at a point 552 to the latch ring bracket 401. A separate yarn 'nger is used or each plating yarn and these fingers are made free to reciprocate-radially to the needle circle vby passing'the crosspin through a slot s in each such'yarn finger -instead of the customary fitted hele. The yarn fingers can be raised out of feedlng relation -to the needles by means of the customary thrust bars 460 acting on thel under side of the yarn fingers, Whenever a change of yarns is desired. These thrust bars 460 are controlled by some of the usual cams on the.

main pattern drum 120 in any well known manner. Y l.

The alternation of the plating yarnl fingers between a position near the needle cir- 4cle and one more distant is accomplished by the mechanism which will now be described. Fastened to the rear end of each plating yarn finger by a screw 11a is a vertical adjusting plate 11 to whose two ends are respectively spring 16 tending to hold the lever bar and the yarn linger attached to it forward toward the needle circle; To provided accurate setting of the yarn finger in this forward vposition'there is a screw 12* mounted, in the ad.` justing plate 11 adapted to. act as a stop by touching the upright portion of the'latch ring just below the plate p. The method of attachment of theyarn finger to the lever bar just described, permits the yarn linger or the whole latch ring to be raised outof action as'usual. Each lever bar is fastened at `its lower end to the upper arm of a bell crank lever 17 -pivoted on a stud 18 mounted on a bracket ml fastened to the frame of the machine. Also mounted on this bracket, near the stud 18 is a shaft 19 whichcarries rotating attern control means consisting of an auril-l lary or striping,l pattern drum 20. Also on the shaft 19 is a ratchet wheel 21, the drum and wheel being adjustably fastened together, but-free to turn on the shaft 19. Onthe periphery of the ratchet wheel'21 vare teeth, one of them being lower than the others. Inside this striping pattern drum is asprin'vpressed friction brake b mounted on the shaft and restraining the drum .from accidental movement. On the surface of the drum are cams 22 each adapted to engage the adjustable foot 17 of the lower arm of one of the bell crank levers 17. When a bell crank lever rides up on one of the cams 22, the upper end of the corresponding lever bar 14 and the yarn linger connected to it is pulled away from the needle circle. By adjustment of the foot 17 a an accurate setting of the yarn finger f in the back position can be obtained. Thus, by alternating the cams 22 operating the two bell crank levers, the two striping yarn fingers can v`be .kept in opposite positions and these positions reversed as desired. ,y

The striping pattern drum is tur'ped by a hook plate 23 on one end of a racklng pawl 23 engaging the teeth on theratchet wheel 21. This racking pawl 23 is swivelled at its other 'end to a lever 24, pivoted on the frame of the machine. This' lever 24 yand the racking 'pawl are reciprocated continuously b a heart shaped cam 25 located on the main drive shaft 32 beside the main bevel gear'31, the engagement between the camfand the lever 24 being meafns vof 'a roller 26 on one side of the end of the lever. This roller is held on the surface of the cam by a spring 27 stretched parallel to the racking pawl between the pawl-and a guide plate 28 on the bracket m. There is a spring 23b mounted on the guide plate 28 tending to hold the racking pawl in engagement with the ratchet wheel. The racking pawlv 23 lies in a slot in the guide plate 28 and is free to be lifted. 'The heart shaped cam 25 and the teeth'on the ratchet wheel 21 are so cut that ateach reciprocation of the racking pawl 23 the striping drum is advanced the length of one tooth on the ratchet wheel. 'The cams 22 on the striping pattern drum can be Inadecf any desired length, and since the main shaft 32 turns once for ievery revolution of the needle-cylinder, it

course or after several courses.

lIn order to stop the rotation of the striping drum when the machine is knittin parts of the stocking Where striping is-not esired, andfor another purpose which will-be described later, an idling lever 530 is mounted loose. on the shaft 19. The foot of this lever overlies the main pattern drum 120 and is adapted to be lifted by the cams 501 and 502. ProJecting upward from this lever to a point just below the-racking pawl 23 is an adjustf able arm 531. When the idling lever 530 rides vup on to a cam 501, this arm 531 is adapted to lift the racking pawl so that the platef23 will not engage any of the teeth on ratchet wheel 21. This lifting takes place as the needle cylinder be ins to reciprocate to make the heel of t e stocking. At the end of the heel they racking pawl is lowered toY continue-moving the ratchet Wheel 21 from where it left off, the pattern thus being unbroken on-the instep of the stocking in spite of the insertion of the heel on the back. At the end of the striped pattern in the foot, the striping yarn fingers F are removed from action bythe thrust rods 460 and the racking pawl lifted by means of a cam 502` on the main pattern drum. This cam is lower than cam 501 with the result that the racking pawl 23 will continue advancing the ratchet wheel- 2 1.unti1 it comes to the low tooth over which it idles until it 'is desired to again make striped work This results in always starting the striped pattern at the beginning of its cycle. Of course there can be several low teeth distributed around the periphery of the wheel 21 if desired. Thisv construction pro-' vides independent idling means which can suspend rotation ofthe pattern drum 20 at any point in .the latters cycle fixed by the ratchet wheel, and also at any point in that cycle designated by the idling means.

a toggle actuated by theusual quadrant or segment gear pivoted on a`.shaft 76 on whichthe main pattern drum 120 is mounted (see Fig. 9). This quadrant is actuated from a main drive gear (not shown) by a pitman 70, vfastened tothe quadrant by a pin 71, and is used amongst' other things to actuate -the pattern chain. It is leared to make one complete reciprocation or every four revolutions of the needle cylinder. Mounted on the quadrant is a pin 77 held by a set screw 77. On the end of this pin is fastened one end of a short bar 532 with a slotted link l533 -pivoted at the other end,-` this bar and link comprising the toggle.

From one side of thev idling lever 530 pro-- jects4 a short pin 534,which lies in the slot 533L in the lslot-ted link 533. As the quadrant,

75 swings away from theratchet wheel 21 the bar 532 swings the slotted link vup and when the pin 534 engages the bottom of the slot 533a the idling lever is raised and clears lthe racking pawl from the'teeth on the ratchet wheel. The. racking pawl is'thus made to idle over the ratchet wheel for one or more courses. It will be apparent thatl by adj usting the position of the dead center of the e bar 532 and link 533 in the oscillation of the .n pivot point of those elementsy the racking bar can, for instance, bemadeto advance the ratchetfwheel one tooth and miss the next,

ladvance two teeth and miss the next-two, advance threel teeth and miss the next one,

and advance one tooth and miss the next three, thus altering the number of rev'olutions 'of the needle cylinder required to complete one revolution of the ratchet wheel 21.`

dead center between the shaft 76 and the pin 534 during a cycle of the movement of the quadrant. If it is desired `to rack everyi The mechanism which operates'the' course the pin' 534 is removed from thel slot in link 533.

In practical knitting it is necessary to have some tension on the facing yarn but practically none on` the back in yarn. We have discovered that it is possi le to reverse the plating in certain cases by merely applying tension to the two plating'yarns alternately,

and feeding them to the ne'edles from Iap-v proximately the same point on the throat plate, but-to make a. machine which will reverse the plating under any conditions we prefer to combine the alternating of the tension with the yarn linger control mechanism above described. The tension chan ing mechanism which we are about to descri e is peculiarly effective and simple.

Mounted on the upright portion of the latch ring is a bracket a carrying theyarn tensioning mechanism. Each yarn passes between two convex discs d-whose convex' sides face eachotherjust before it goes to the toe of its yarn finger (see Fig. 4). Each pair of discs is mounted on a pin 7), passing through the centre of the discs and the discs 4are held together by acompression springl c. -whose degree of compression can be adjusted by a thumb-nut e, mounted on the pin b. The discs are held from turning by apin Set in notches in the edge of the discs. ach pair of discs, thus' mounted, would normally act as a drag on the yarn passing between' the discs, but the two pairs of discs are made to release their yarnsalternately thus enabling the machine to kee tension on the facing 1 yarn by reversing t e tension when the two yarns are reversed. This is accomplished by the means which will now be described.

Pivoted :from bracket a on the upright r tion of the latch ring, is a curved arm q 'av-- ing a slanting edge lfacing 4the circumference of one of the discs of each pair. When this arm is swung up, the slanting face resses against the edge of one convex disc an pushing-against the pressure of the compression springe, tips thls disc away from the other, opening a space between the two discsv on one side of the pin Z.A The arn being between the discs on the side vofythe'discsth'us "opened, has the drag removed from it. In

order' to operate this tension releasing device, a wlre h is hooked into the arm g at a point above the pivot center of the arm. The wire passes to the rear ofthe machine, where it passes through the stud 15 on the upper end of the lever bar 14.

-To maintain the proper relation between the lever bar 14 and the wire It, there is an adjustable collar j at the end of thelwire h kwith a small 4tension spring lc between the sleeve and the plate p. The lever bar is held towards thelat-ch ring by a tension spring 16, this having the effect of keeping the arm q down and out of engagement with the discs. i

The plating .reversing mechanism operates in the followinor manner, which ever yarn is actlng as the facing yarn being designated as y1 and the yarn actlng as the backing yarn as y2. The striping pattern drum is broughtv include the possibility of using any numberl of facing and backing yarns. The yarn finger whose bell crank lever 17 is on a cam 22 then assumes a position away from the needle circle, while the yarn finger whose bell crank lever is 'off its cam 22 goes to a forward position. For purposes of illustration we shall assume that the parts take the positions shown in Fig. 5. The lever bar 14 which is a drawn back pulls the wire h raising the arm g into engagement with the outer disc above 1t removing the drag on the backing yarn y, (see Fig. 4). The backing yarn y2 after passing between its two separated discs d goes t r finger, diagonally over the throat plate, 559 to the corner of the throat 560 and at this oint the yarn y2 turns down to the, needles )il passing under the hooks of the 'needles beyond the throat plate in the direction of rotation of the needle circle. The facing yarn however is put under tension by its two discs,

and goes through the toe of its yarn finger which is in the forward position. In this way the 4yarn fingers achieve a horizontal separation of the yarns in a direction substantially radial to the needle circle. The facing yarn y* goes out to the throat and over' it at a distance from the corner, after which it goes down to the needles, getting under the hooks before the backing yarn y2 in point of time. From the position of the throat and the needle circle it will be apparent that the two yarns are under the hooks at different elevations as shown in Figs. 7 and 8-Fig, 7 corresponding to Fig. 6 and Fig. 8 corresponding to Fig; 5.

When the cams 22 on t e striping drum change alternation the plating yarn fingers reverse their` positions in a manner which will be obvious and the arm g which was in engagement with its disc d drops down, releases the disc and puts a drag on its yarn, which now becomes the facing yarn y1. At the same moment the other arm g is .raised and releases its yarn from tension. The yarn fingers have enough clearance above the throat plate to permit of the yarn which was facing yarn y1 passing under the other yarn finger as it passes to the corner of the throat ough the toe of its retracted yarn y plate. The yarn which now feeds from the forward yarn iinger of course goes over the throat at a distance from the corner as the vother yarn did before.

The operation of the device for va ing the number of courses in each stripe wi l be obvious from the description already given.

It will be apparent that our invention is applicable to all kindsof knitting machines. What we'claim is:

1. In a knitting machine having rotating pattern control means,fa ratchet wheel and pawl, adapted to actuate saidr pattern means in combination with independent idling means for said pawl adapted to suspend rotation of the pattern 'means either at any fixed point in the latters cycle or at any point in that c cle designated by said idling means. 2. 131,1 a circular knitting machine having main and auxiliary rotating pattern control means, a ratchet wheel having teeth of two heights and a pawl,said wheel and pawl being adapted to actuate said auxiliary pattern means, in combination with anA idling lever 'for said pawl and cams of two heights on said main pattern means adapted to cause said pawl to idle over -the low teeth or all the teeth on the ratchet wheel, substantially as described.

main and auxiliary rotating pattern control 3. In a circular knitting machine having means, a ratchet wheel having teeth of two heights and a pawl, said wheel and pawl being adapted to actuate said auxiliary pattern means, in combination with an idling lever for said pawl and cams of two heights on said main pattern means adapted to cause said pawl to idle over the low teeth or all the teeth on the ratchet wheel, substantially as described. I

4. In a circular knitting machine having rotating pattern control means and continuously moving ratchet and pawl means therefor, independent 'means adapted to cause idling of the pawl to begin and'end at any point designated by said idlin means or at any fixed point of the cycle o said pattern control means, in combination with idling means having continuous angular motion adapted to idlethe pawl intermittently.

5. In a circular knitting machine rotating patterncontrol means and continuously moving ratchet and pawl means therefor, in com bination with an idling lever for said pawl, a main` pattern control means, cams thereon adapted to raise said idling lever to idling position or to such level that the pawl will commence idling at some point in the cycle fof the firstmentioned pattern control? means determined by the latter, and another idling means having continuous angulary motion bearing timed relation to the Arevolutions of the needle cylinder and adapted to raise the idling lever intermittently to idling position. 6. In a circular knlttng machine having main and auxiliary rotating pattern control means, a ratchet wheel and pawl adapted to actuate said auxiliary pattern means, and an idling lever for said pawl, in. combination with cams on the main pattern mers adapted to actuate the idling lever to suspend rotation of the auxiliary pattern means both at the completion ofthe latters'c cle and at any point in that cycle designate by said cams., a quadrant, and means fastened. thereon adapted to actuate the idling lever to cause intermittent idling ofthe pawl during part of the o cle of the quadrant; substantially as descri ed. i

7. In a knitting machine, rotating pattern control Ameans, land continuously moving ratchet and pawl means therefor, in combination with means having continuous angular motion independent of vsaid ratchet means adapted to intermittently hold said pawl in idling position with relation toall the teeth on said pattern control means.

8. In a knitting machine, rotating pattern control means and continuously moving ratchet and pawl means therefor, in combination with means havin continuous angular motion independent o said ratchet means adapted to pass over its closest approach toV contact with said pawl and back again and thereby intermittently hold the pawl in v v idling position.

9. n a knitting machine having a quadrant, rotating pattern control means and ratchet means ada ted to actuate said pattern means, in com ination with mechanism being such that the pivot point of the link with the an ular means passes dead center during a cyc e of said an ular means.

11. In a knitting mac ine having a quadrant, rotating pattern control means, and a ratchet wheel and pawl adapted to actuate said pattern means, 'in combination with a toggle comprising a short bar mounted on said uadrant and a slotted link pivoted to said s ort bar', and a lever adapted to cause vintermittent idling of the pawl, the oscillation ofthe pivot point of the short bar and the slotted link bein@r adjustable {with relation to dead center o' the toggle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we havesignedour names to this speciication.l

.Emecutors of the Estate of Robert W. Scott. p

Deceased.

ALBERT E. PAGE. 

